A couple of weeks ago I wrote of the need for a historic marker at the site of the first bridge over the Tombigbee at Columbus. It was a bridge by Black bridge builder Horace King in 1842.
There is another very significant historic site on Southside that also needs a historic marker. It is the site of the first public school for Black children in Columbus. The school, which became known as Union Academy, was established in late 1865 by the Freedman’s Bureau and was operated by the American Missionary Association.
It was described in early 1866 by Cyrus Green, one of its first instructors. “The rooms proposed to be occupied as school rooms, which are in a Hospital Building known as Wayside Hospital built by the Confederates and in which the sick and wounded of both armies have at different times been lying. The rooms are good for the purpose and taking into consideration the state of things at present. Other rooms are the officers’ quarters near the hospital and the barracks are just behind.”
At first it was adults, who had the year before been freed from enslavement, who attended. A Methodist minister who paid a pleasant visit to the school reported, “That night 30 adults attended class. They had been unable (or possibly afraid) to leave their homes during the day.” That apparently was an early sign of trouble to come. First, the U.S. military authorities took several rooms in the former hospital for their own use, and then came threats from some members of the white community over the education of former slaves. The school’s beginning was not an easy one.
The threats came to a head in late April when the school received a threatening letter. The threats were reported in both Columbus and national newspapers, with Green referring to an article in the Columbus Sentinel. “This morning’s paper The Sentinel has an article on the subject of the note we received. The prevailing ideas in it are fear for their town, dread of the recalling of the military and that they do not think the work we are doing here an evil but far from it — written in a kind of persuasive tone mingled with threats of the Civil Powers should they attempt to carry out their design.” While police patrols were increased, there was still concern, and an armed guard of Black citizens was posted around the school.
Nothing apparently came of the threat, and several white citizens came by the school to offer their support. Two were Johnson and Whitfield. (They were probably Harrison Johnston and former Gov. James Whitfield who were both mentioned elsewhere in Green’s diary.) In March, another white citizen had offered support in a different fashion. T.C. Billups had visited the school with his wife to get information about the education provided there and purchase textbooks as, “They propose to start a school on their own plantation and educate their former slaves.”
After Green had departed Columbus, the former hospital-turned-school was destroyed by a fire. The Columbus Index reported on Feb. 2, 1867, that there was a division of opinion as to whether the fire was set by whites to destroy the school or was an accident. An elderly Black man, Jo Mitchell, who had been sleeping in the building, died in the fire. The former Confederate barracks, which had been located about a block behind the barracks, were then used as a school and the Freedman’s Chapel.
After the fire, there was a show of support for the school by the white community and $400 was quickly pledged toward a new school. This was at a time when a nice house would sell for about $600. In 1869, a new school was constructed. It was a large two-story frame structure built across the street from the probable location of the Confederate barracks. Its grounds encompassed the west half of the Southside block framed by the railroad on the north, Eighth Street on the west and Ninth Avenue on the south.
In April 1871 legislation was considered by the Mississippi State Senate that would “establish a permanent normal school in connection with the Columbus Female Institute (now MUW) and Columbus Union Academy.” A normal school was a school for the training of teachers. I have found no record of any legislation passing. This was the first official reference I have found to the school being named Union Academy.
On March 25, 1903, the new brick Union Academy opened with a program under the direction of Professor W.L. Mitchell, the school’s principal. The ceremonies began with a parade by the school’s students from the old school on Southside to the new building built at the old fairgrounds on Northside. The parade of more than 800 persons was led by the school’s Union band with “Hallelujah, Tis Done” being played and sung.
In 1905 Union Academy finally became a normal school by providing a four week teacher training course for about 200 teachers from across northeast Mississippi.
The 1903 Union Academy site saw a ceremony and the placing of a monument there in 2020. However, the site of the original school and the first Union Academy has no marker. This is a very significant site in the history of Columbus and its importance should be recognized with a state historic marker.
Thanks to Carolyn Kaye for helping with this column.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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